24 of the Most Significant Items Destroyed Throughout History

‘Mayan Codices... The entire knowledge of a culture is lost due to fear and intolerance’
24 of the Most Significant Items Destroyed Throughout History

Humans have always loved to fight. Whether it’s bar brawls or international war, we constantly find problems with each other, and often solve them with violence. Another thing bar brawls and international war have in common: It’s almost a guarantee that something important is going to get broken.

History is literally littered with valuable (whether historically, monetarily or both) non-living casualties of human conflict. It would be nice if we could have all agreed to steer clear of certain things that future generations might have wanted to look at, but then again, that’s kind of the point. Fuck you and your library, Alexandria. 

Redditors have thrown out their nominations for some of the most significant items ever destroyed over the course of history, including a 500-year-old clam that died far too young.

LabKitty 11y ago Edited 11y ago The Parthenon remained largely intact for about 1000 years until it was hit by an artillery shell in 1687. Ditto for the monastery at Monte Cassino, which was bombed to rubble in WW- II. The allies also bombed the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan (where da Vinci painted The Last Supper) but fortunately it only resulted in minor damage.
seabow 11y ago The Golden Spruce. A tree on the Queen Charlotte Island that was sacred to the aboriginals and a genetic anomaly(only one ever found) was cut down by a logger. In protest of logging.
NoFlyingSolo . 11y ago Mayan Codices... The entire knowledge of a culture lost due to fear and intolerance. So sad.
TentacleFace 11y ago something of note: Namdaemun in Seoul. For a country that has been treated pretty badly by all of its neighbors and its own people, physical cultural pieces are few and far between. Namdaemun was one of the few really old structures left in Seoul, let alone Korea. It was burned down by a Korean man who was outraged (and rightfully so) at the gov't taking his land. That being said, its pretty fucking stupid to get your revenge on the government by burning one of the last physical heritage pieces left in your culture.
ups_drug_dealer . 11y ago It wasn't really destroyed but the fact that Einstein's last words aren't known because the nurse that was with him didn't know German is pretty sad.
frenchiefanatique . 11y ago the 1,700 year old GIANT Buddha statues that were blown up by the taliban. seriously fuck them for doing that, one of the Buddha statues was 165ft tall, and they simply blew it up using dynamite
11y ago The sacking of baghdad by the Mongols, although it's not an item, the river was said to run black with ink. Major bummer. Baghdad seems fine now though.
chicitygirl46 . 11y ago Edited 11y ago The oldest tree ever found was cut down to make the process of finding out how old it was easier only to realize it is the oldest tree ever found.... Source Edit: It was cut down without realizing it was significantly old. The guy who cut it down feels terrible. Great radiolab podcast on it! http://www.radiolab.org/story/91721-oops/
I DON'T HAVE THE ENERGY TO PRETEND TO LIKE YOU TODAY. religionisaparasite . 11y ago The sack of Rome in 455AD by the Vandals. You know it's bad when the name of your tribe is used for the rest of history to describe hooligans.
CitizenTed 11y ago Not the MOST expensive or MOST historically significant, but Stari Most in Bosnia was a freaking crime against history. Built in 1566 by the Ottomans, it was the widest manmade arch on Earth at that time. The engineering was a marvel. On November 9, 1993 Croatian military forces blew the bridge up. It had stood for 427 years.
pearofperowne 11y ago The Old Summer Palace in Beijing was destroyed by French and British troops during the Opium War. According to one of the soldiers who took part in the destruction: We went out, and, after pillaging it, burned the whole place, destroying in a vandal-like manner most valuable property which not be replaced for four millions. We got upward of £48 apiece prize money...I have done well. The people are very civil, but I think the grandees hate us, as they must after what we did the Palace. You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence
11y ago Edited 11y ago I was worried for Leptis Magna during the Libyan Crisis. Particularly considering there were reports of Ghadaffi and со hiding tanks in amidst the ruins and speculation that NATO would be forced to attack it. Honest. They are the very best preserved Roman ruins in the entire world. They make the Coliseum and forum look like chump change. The British wanted to roll tanks across it during World War II and it was two archaeologists artillery men who really stuck to their guns and said Fuck that - drive around you cockbags that kept it from
THKMass 11y ago Edited 11y ago Although they were not lost or destroyed but instead stolen: The Isabella Steward Gardner heist. An estimated $500 million in art stolen in 1990 and still remains unsolved. Pieces including Rembrandt's The storm of the sea of galilee.
hannson . 11y ago The Library of Alexandria. Not necessarily the most expensive or historically significant item but I think it's worth a mention.
juloxx . 11y ago Edited 11y ago The footage of Doc Ellis pitching a perfect game/*no hitter while tripping face on LSD Apparently the footage has been locked away because its an embarrassment to the league, but having half your players roided out is just business as usual
Twilight_Flopple . 11y ago Pretty soon, the Great Barrier Reef.
NPHMctweeds . 11y ago Though it's still a theory, The Arc of the Covenant was most likely dismantled/destroyed. One of the most sought after and important artifacts in history.
AtomHeartMonster 11y ago The Archimedes Codex, which could've potentially sent humans hundreds of years into the future in the mathematics world. It was erased and written over by a monk, and only until recently was deciphered using digital imaging.
skwirrlmaster 11y ago The solid gold capstones and limestone exterior to the Giza pyramids Really surprised Im the only one to mention the stripping of the greatest achievement in relation to the level of human development at that time.
Fallschirm123 . 11y . ago The entire city of Dresden.
Ludendorff . 11y ago That gigantic blue diamond that experts say was stolen, recut, and now lives in the Smithsonian. The Норе Diamond, it is now known as, in its smaller form. Definitely not the most valuable in terms of practical worth, but still it hurts me in my wallet to think about mutilating one of the largest diamonds in history.
agroundhere . 11y ago . Edited 11y ago Well, if you believe the story, in a hissy fit suitable to a 5 year old - Moses destroyed the only known writings from the creator of the universe.
HighprinceofWar 11y ago 12 Edited 11y ago People destroyed the Terracotta Army soon after Qin Shi Huang Di's death. All of the ones you in in China/exhibits were found whole. The excavation process is more or less the world's largest jigsaw puzzle. Edit: Sorry, meant to say were not found whole Edit 2: For those skeptical about the claim: http://www.chinaodysseytours.com/xian/xian- terracotta-warriors.html The site says no soldier has been found intact
quantumhovercraft . 11y ago Edited 11y ago The Temple of Artemis was burnt down by a man named Herostratus just so that his name would be remembered. | have to commend him because it worked.

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